NL East Notes: Bartolo, Kendrick, Nationals

The Mets will at least consider a reunion with 44-year-old righty Bartolo Colon following yesterday’s DFA by the Braves, reports MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (Twitter link). They are, however, understandably wary of his poor performance in Atlanta. Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News spoke to one Mets person who expressed some intrigue regarding the possibility of once again pairing Colon with pitching coach Dan Warthen to see if Colon could succeed in a bullpen role in New York. And, as Ackert points out, the additional depth would hardly be a bad thing for a Mets pitching staff that has been decimated by injury.

Elsewhere in the NL East…

The Phillies could be facing a trip to the disabled list for Howie Kendrick, writes CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury. Kendrick has been bothered lately by a sore hamstring, and while he was in the lineup as a DH on Tuesday this week, he told manager Pete Mackanin that he didn’t feel good enough to go on Wednesday. Mackanin acknowledged that the Phils have to consider a DL stint for Kendrick, which would be a disappointing development for the organization, as Kendrick’s hot bat has elevated his trade candidacy since returning from a lengthy six-week stint on the DL earlier this year. Salisbury wonders whether the Phils would bring up a prospect such as Nick Williams or Dylan Cozens and give him regular playing time in lieu of Kendrick, though that suggestion appears to be made somewhat speculatively.

Although the Nationals have a well-documented need for bullpen upgrades, sorting out the roster in the wake of a move won’t be as easy as one would imagine, writes Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. Ownership typically doesn’t love the notion of adding significant contracts midseason in the first place, she writes, and the concept of adding a reliever and then cutting a player already on a relatively significant deal (e.g. Joe Blanton) may not be appealing to the Lerner family — especially if it meant acquiring another significant contract. Janes runs down a list of virtually every relief option on the roster, noting that the team’s best-performing relievers (Matt Albers, Enny Romero) are among the most affordable options. Despite Shawn Kelley’s struggles, Janes writes, he’s a well-liked clubhouse presence that is under contract through 2018, and it’s unlikely that the Nats would simply eat the rest of his contract to free up a roster spot.

He doesn’t have to fit their rebuild. The Sox could take Blanton and immediately DFA him just as a financial mechanism to help facilitate a trade. It’s not all that uncommon to see a club make that type of move. Dodgers, Braves, Padres and others have all done it in recent seasons.

Joe Blanton’s 2017 contract was for $4M. David Robertson’s final two contract years have a $25M obligation, $12M this season and $13M in 2018. If the White Sox agreed to take Blanton back in such a deal the Nats would still be on the hook for approximately $4MM this season ($6MM-$2M) and all of his 2018 salary next year.

Why would the White Sox need to complicate such a transaction in a rebuilding year? If providing some relief for the Nationals luxury tax predicament would help add to a better prospect return wouldn’t it make more sense for the White Sox to just pick up $4M of Robertson’s salary for 2017 and perhaps also some of his 2018 obligation to further their net return?

Simply acquiring Blanton and then immediately DFA’ing him would be uncharted waters for a Jerry Reinsdorf team. In recent years, they have eaten some salary for their own players like Jeff Keppinger and John Danks but that was primarily due to injury concerns that affected the remaining value of their deals and was done during seasons in which the club felt they were contenders. They similarly ate some dollars early last season by releasing Mat Latos, again in a year they felt they could contend. Soon afterward, they acquired James Shields but only when the Padres agreed to pick up about half of his remaining contract obligation.

Again, I could envision the White Sox potentially offering some salary relief to facilitate a deal with Robertson but just don’t see the reasoning for taking on Blanton and then immediately releasing him. Had this trade proposal occurred earlier this season then perhaps they may have trusted Don Cooper to fix Blanton so he could then be flipped later in the summer. There’s not much time left for that to happen at this point of the season.

@pplama…The Sox don’t need anymore pitching from the Nats.. They already have 3 in Golita, Lopez & Dunning for Eaton.. That’s why the Nats bullpen is garbage now, and should’ve at least got Robertson in return for those 3 TOP prospects..

I understand the roster composition and logic behind the Nationals’ resistance to acquiring a significant contract in season, but the bottom line is they will not have an effective closer until they trade for one.

“Rizzo loses his job in 16 months without a parade. You know it. I know it.”

You know this exactly how?

When Rizzo joined the Nationals they were the doormat of the NL East, a perennial last place team. They didn’t win the number one picks which got them Strasburg and Harper in a lottery, they earned them by being the worst team in baseball.

In the past five years the Nats have won three division titles and competed late for the other two. And they have been cruising so far this year. Rizzo has also been a bit hamstrung financially by the lack of a resolution to the MASN situation. Once that’s done he will have more money to spend on salaries.

Ownership appears to recognize the situation Rizzo is in and adjusts their expectations accordingly. For some reason the Nats keep their managers and GMs on short contracts. Not sure where you’re getting your “knowledge” from but I assume the Lerners are delighted with Rizzo and expect that he will sign a new deal without much fuss.

I’m guessing this trade proposal is laced with sarcasm. If not, the Cubs aren’t selling their closer in a division they still figure to win while the Nationals would hardly be parting with their #1 prospect for a midsummer rental whose salary would still create “problems” with ownership.

The Mets are going to pounce on Colon as soon as he clears waivers. It’s coming from the chairman of the board himself telling Sandy, “You must sign him. Anytime we can get a player CHEAP we must be aggressive. Colon is a double win–fans who have NO REASON to come to Shea Jr.. might buy tickets. It’s the same reason that we have that QB in the minors. Some people call us the freak show franchise, I look at it as a good way to make a few bucks!”